Tadej Pogacar wins Tour de France as Bennett secures green jersey

The 22-year-old is the youngest winner of the competition in the post-World War II era.

UAE Team Emirates' Tadej Pogacar crossed the line safely with his team-mates in the yellow jersey as he won the Tour de France at his first attempt. Sam Bennett also performed brilliantly and won the Stage 21 in Paris to secure the prestigious green jersey.

The traditional final stage procession into Paris saw Tadej Pogacar soak in the celebrations following his extraordinary performance in Saturday’s Stage 20 time trial on La Planche des Belles Filles, where he took almost two minutes out of his rival Primoz Roglic to take the title in dramatic fashion.

After outscoring his closest rival Peter Sagan (Bora Hansgrohe) at the day's intermediate sprint, Bennett only needed to finish the stage safely to secure the points classification green jersey, the Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider capped off his ride in special fashion with a stage win in Paris that will live long in the memory.

The British rider, Connor Swift, was part of a four-man breakaway that animated the stage, but the years when an escape can deny the peloton are few and far between. Some fantastic chasing work from Thomas De Gendt and Pierre Rolland effectively sealed the sprint finish with four kilometres to go.

Bennett said, "The whole battle was something special. It was such a difficult Tour for me, but it was so worth it. I think a very special moment was coming into the Champs-Élysées wearing the green, I got goosebumps. Then the moment when I hit the front coming to the line, that feeling was amazing. Having that support from the team and seeing how much effort they put in for me was amazing, I’m so proud of the boys."

"I did feel pressure but the funniest thing was, often the most pressure I get is from myself. I got so much support from home, it was almost like the pressure from expectation was something I’d never felt before and is a whole new pressure - that was hard to deal with, to perform with that expectation. To pull it off I’m so proud. I’m just going to enjoy the moment. I have a funny feeling the team are going to hit me with a race programme so I’m going to have to keep working."

Apart from yellow jersey, Tadej Pogacar also received the white and polka dot jerseys on the podium in Paris.